So, a lot of people have expressed interest in physical cards for Word Ace, so they can play with their friends in real life! As you maybe have seen in an earlier post, we are, in fact, working on getting real decks of cards printed up. So keep an eye out here, and they’ll be available soon.

Now, that said, nothing should stop you from building your own decks to play. You have the official letter distribution & values, so with a stack of index cards, a pen, and something you can use for poker chips, you’ve got everything you need!

But just so that you don’t have to do some of the experimenting we did, here’s a quick tip for how to play Word Ace in real life, that might not be completely obvious:

While there’s nothing unusual about the first few stages of each hand, wrapping up the hand can be a little tricky. You want to make sure that everyone “reveals” their word simultaneously. If you go in turns, if the best word is formed from the community cards, people might switch their “real” answer at the last minute.

To make sure the reveal is fair, grab yourself a 30-second timer, and a pen & paper for each player. During the “Word Ace!” phase, start the timer, and have people write down their best word. When the timer’s up, everyone drops their pens, and the words are revealed one by one!

This makes sure everyone’s on the same level playing field. It also keeps a record of the words everyone spelled, which can often remind you of times when you ended up with close calls, or hilarious results.

Anyway… have fun playing Word Ace, whether you’re playing it on the iPhone, an iPod Touch, the Pre, or with a bunch of friends in the real world!!

Have any stories about bizarre, hilarious, or particularly close hands? Send us your stories, and if we get a kick out of ‘em, we’ll post them on the blog!